Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd.
Screening with live music by Donald Sosin. In his books on Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd, film historian John Bengtson has created an exciting new form of urban archaeology by extensively researching the locations in which silent films were photographed. While much of his work has focused on Los Angeles, his new book on Harold Lloyd offers a real treat for New Yorkers: a look at Lloyd's delightful comedy Speedy, which costars Babe Ruth and features extensive location photography in New York, including Coney Island, lower Manhattan, the Bronx, and Yankee Stadium. A restored 35mm print of Speedy (dir. Ted Wilde, 1928, 85 mins.) is shown with live musical accompaniment, following Bengtson's visual presentation about the movie's production. In the film, Harold Lloyd plays a baseball-crazed soda jerk and cabby who picks up Babe Ruth as a passenger and has to hurtle through the city to get him to his game. At 3pm, free with Museum admission.